


A Work In Progress

by Rosebudlilac



Category: Big Bang (Band), Lee Hi (Musician)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 06:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7256704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosebudlilac/pseuds/Rosebudlilac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Perhaps they made a strange picture to any outside observer, but those in the know knew that Hayi and Ji Yong had a strange kind of symbiosis.  It’s not like Ji Yong asked her for any advice, or even requested her opinion, nor did Hayi really need his help (a singer he was not), but Ji Yong enjoyed her company.  It was simple as that."</p>
<p>How Hayi eventually gets the guy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All Was Peaceful

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I'm not really following any timeline set in reality. That would require way more research than I'm willing to do. This is just focused on relationships, so it shouldn't really impact the story. Hope you enjoy!

Hayi sat in the swiveling chair just a few meters away from him, her legs gently swaying to the rhythm of the music playing in the small room. She swiveled first one way, and then the other as her feet caught the legs of the small coffee table by her side. An open English textbook rested on her lap.

Ji Yong didn’t mind her, though he vaguely registered her motions in his peripheral vision. He was entirely focused on the tracks he was mixing, fiddling with sliders and buttons under Hayi’s watchful gaze.

All was peaceful.

Perhaps they made a strange picture to any outside observer, but those in the know knew that Hayi and Ji Yong had a strange kind of symbiosis. It’s not like Ji Yong asked her for any advice, or even requested her opinion, nor did Hayi really need his help (a singer he was not), but Ji Yong enjoyed her company. It was simple as that. He was an artist in the truest sense, and he had found by accident that having Hayi in the room caused his music to have a more soothing, soulful tone to it. It was less explosive and less wild, perhaps, than his usual stuff, but it was good, and it was new, and he liked it.

So though they rarely said anything to each other, they often sat together in one of the small studios, as Ji Yong worked and Hayi studied.

It had caused rumors to circulate, as these things tend to do, but everyone knew GD. He was an artist, and artists do whatever it takes to make art.

They were now a source of idle amusement for onlookers. Whenever Bom happened to stroll by and peek in, she would giggle and take a picture to send to Chaelin, who was usually overseas. When Bobby or B.I. was around, they pointed and sniggered, though secretly Bobby was jealous that Lee Hayi was spending so much time with a male who was not him, even though that male was a big sunbae.

It was a strange dynamic and many wondered at it, but it suited them just fine. They were at a point where the twenty-eight-year-old rapper and the twenty-year-old vocalist could communicate without saying a word. There was a strange ritual to it, and only Hayi and Ji Yong really understood it, but it worked.

Ji Yong always arrived on his work days at 3:00 PM. If he wanted Hayi in the room, the door would be open, the lights would be on, but there would be no music - he was waiting for her.

If the door was shut and he was already working, she was not needed. These days became fewer and fewer as time went on.

If he had had an event the night before or into the morning, Hayi brought coffee - always an iced Americano with one sugar, regardless of the weather.

Ji Yong paid her back with little souvenirs after his travels: a scarf from some famous designer, some perfume from some classy store in Japan, some luxury lotion from a sponsor, etc. Hayi now had enough little gifts and trinkets to fill a whole shelf.

They rarely spoke in the studio, conversation often limited to greetings, good-byes, “Pass me that please” and “You want coffee, oppa?” There was no need for speech when they knew each others’ habits so well.

Today seemed to be an exception.

“Oppa.”

Ji Yong didn’t hear at first, too engrossed in his work.

“Oppa.” He looked up, a little shocked that Hayi was breaking their ritual of silence. She had stopped spinning and was looking at him intently.

“Oh. What’s up?” he replied lazily as he turned back to his screen. Damn it, those tracks just didn’t seem to fit together. Should he up the tempo? Maybe raise the volume on the bass?

Hayi noted his inattention but pushed on. “Are you really dating that Japanese model?”

He glanced at her curiously. This wasn’t like her. “Who? Nana? We’re just friends, you know that. Barely that even.”

“Really? The pictures are rather incriminating.”

He rolled his eyes. “We _went_ on a date. If you can call it that. But we are not _dating_.”

Hayi frowned. “They sound awfully similar to me.”

“That’s because you’re young and romantic.” His tone was dismissive, and Hayi knew the conversation was over. She looked up at the ceiling and began spinning again, too preoccupied to continue studying for a while.

Ji Yong would wonder about the conversation afterwards, when his mind wasn’t filled with music, but it would be quickly forgotten with Seungri’s loud arrival to his apartment.


	2. Haru

Tablo needed someone to watch little Haru. School was canceled due to a power out, and his wife was away on some shoot, so Haru-watching fell to Tablo. Normally, the enthusiastic father would be excited to take care of Haru like he did on that reality show. He could go shopping with her, maybe see a movie, visit the aquarium, and visit the YG artists in town for a bit. There were so many things he could do with his beloved daughter.

But today was the day he had scheduled two recording sessions in the HIGHGRND offices, and Haru unfortunately found the studios to be awfully dull. She couldn’t sit still in them and could become awfully distracting. Adorable, but distracting.

So the search for a babysitter had begun. All the other staff members were busy, 2NE1 was out of the country, both Seung Hyuns were outside Seoul, Young Bae and Daesung had some days off to visit family, and Ji Yong would not be in the building until noon. None of the older artists were in the building either.

That automatically ruled out most of the ideal baby-sitter candidates.

He supposed he could drop her off with the president… no. No, that wasn’t a good idea.

That left Winner, iKon, and the trainees, but he didn’t really trust any of the boys together with his precious daughter, and besides, they had their schedule to attend to. Soo Hyun and Chan Hyuk were the next best candidates, but they too were busy with language classes and recording sessions.

Which left Hayi.

Tablo liked her and trusted her. Working with her on Seoullite had shown him that she had a level head on her shoulders. Sure, she was a little awkward with kids, but what mattered was that she would keep an eye on Haru, right? Right? Anyways he really was running late to his first session and was getting desperate, and he really, really didn’t want to leave her with the president so -

“Hayi, can you do me a favor watch Haru until three for me thank you bless you alright bye bye Haru thanks Hayi gotta run!”

Hayi had never seen Tablo run so quickly.

She looked down at the little seven-year-old staring up at her, her wide eyes curious and sweet.

“So… um… remember me, Haru?”

Haru nodded innocently. “Hayi-unnie.”

“Uh… yeah. That’s me.”

“…”

“So… want some coffee?”

 

* * *

 

 

Don’t panic. Just don’t panic. There’s a super hyper seven-year-old bouncing around in the office, making a huge mess and screaming at the top of her lungs, but it’s okay. It’s OKAY.

It’s not really, and Hayi knows it, but she had been taught in her training that staying calm and cool and collected was the best way to get out of most possible scandal-causing situations, so that’s what Hayi did.

Obviously, the coffee was a really bad idea. They had walked down to the café on the first floor around 10:30 AM. Hayi had bough Haru a small iced Americano with one sugar and a mocha latte for herself, and they had enjoyed their drinks over small pastries and cookies. She _seemed_ fine, and Hayi was really struggling to get along with the kid, so she quickly bought her a second one when she asked for it.

Ji Yong-oppa downed at least four large cups a day, and he hadn’t keeled over yet, so she had figured giving little Haru two small cups wouldn’t hurt anybody.

She realized her mistake belatedly.

It had taken exactly forty-three minutes for the caffeine to kick in, but when it hit, it _hit_.

One second, Haru was peacefully coloring in her fish-themed coloring book, the next, she was running around, belting the lyrics to “Fantastic Baby” like nobody’s business. The once silent and peaceful office was now in chaos. Hayi could only watch helplessly as Haru resisted all pleas for calm and tranquility.

God, Tablo was going to kill her. She would never, ever see the inside of HIGHGRND again. Maybe not even YG. Tablo would find out and have her kicked out. There goes her music career. There goes her dreams, her ambitions, her goals - wait. Stop. Don’t panic.

Maybe she could calm her down. Lure her with some more coloring. She picked up a blue pencil and began to haphazardly fill in the ocean.

“Haru? Haru, don’t you want to come color with me? Look, it’s the ocean! Wah, so pretty. Haru, don’t you want to color?”

“DANCE! WOO-HOO! I WANNA DAN DAN DAN DAN DANCE!”

She was so dead.

It was ten minutes and five more futile attempts to quiet Haru later when there was a tentative knock on the door.

Hayi opened the door to see Ji Yong’s hesitant face peering at her. She glanced down the hallway, relieved to see no one else on the floor and yanked Ji Yong into the office by his cardigan.

“Yah! What’s going on? Haru?” His eyes widened as he took in the scene: Haru, who seemed to be mimicking a popped balloon, scattered coloring pencils and coloring books, an empty coffee cup, and Hayi. Hayi looked incredibly worn out. It was only 12:30, but her eyes were drooping, her lips were dry, and thin knit sweater was drooping off her shoulder, probably not on purpose.

“Hayi? What’s going on?”

She whimpered as her head dropped to her hands. “School was canceled and Tablo-sunbae needed a babysitter because he had recording sessions and you weren’t here and nobody was here except the boys and the trainees so I had to babysit her and I gave her coffee and it’s been two hours since then and I’m totally going to lose my job because Tablo-sunbae will never want to work with me again, and oh my god she won’t stop singing your _stupid_ song!”

Her panicked tirade stopped and she froze as she looked up at a bemused Ji Yong. “I mean wonderful song. Fantastic Baby is great. Great song.”

Silence. And then -

“You gave her _coffee_?” His tone clearly gave away how insane he thought she was.

Hayi nodded mournfully. “Two cups.”

“ _Two_ \- Hayi, really?”

“I didn’t know! I mean, you take in at least a liter of coffee a day, and you’re not going batshit crazy all the time, so I figured it wouldn’t harm anything, and you know I’m not good with kids—”

Ji Yong placed a hand on her mouth. She silenced immediately and looked at him with doe eyes. “I got it.”

Haru finally noticed that her beloved samcheon had appeared and was now clinging to his leg. Well, this was certainly more forward than he was expecting of the normally shy girl, but it was a welcome surprise. With his hand still resting on Hayi’s mouth, he grinned at the little girl attached to his leg. “Haru, annyeong!”

“ANNYEONG!”

He looked back at Hayi. “So the coffee was not a good idea, but look. She’s fine. Just a little energetic.”

He felt her mouth open, probably to start on another anxious mumble, so he pressed his hand more firmly against her lips. Despite the dryness, they were soft and full against his palm.

“You are not going to lose your job, Tablo-hyung will still want to work with you, and President Yang will definitely not drop you.”

She looked at him doubtfully before pulling his hand away from her mouth. “How do you know?”

He smirked a little knowingly. “Who do you think sent me here?” he teased, his index finger pointing back towards the corner were a security camera hung.

Hayi stepped back from Ji Yong in shock and horror. “He’s been watching me?”

“He watches everyone, you know that. He texted me a little while ago, told me you needed some help. What, did you think I just stumbled along and found you on the floor I never go on, in a room I haven’t been in since before my debut?”

It’s true, the floor was generally dedicated to trainees and young artists, so it was a little odd that Ji Yong-oppa was there. But Hayi didn’t say anything.

To be honest, he was right. She was a bit of a romantic, and some small part of her had hoped that he had heard her silent pleas for help and had come simply because he could sense she needed him. That he had arrived, not at the orders of the president, but because he wanted to be here.

Hayi was a romantic, but she could also be practical. Wishful thinking wasted time, so instead of replying, she dropped to her knees in front of Haru and Ji Yong and said in her sweetest, calmest voice, “Haru, do you want to play hide-and-seek with Ji Yong-samcheon and Hayi-unnie?”

Haru looked up at her samcheon, who nodded encouragingly before rapping her fist against Hayi’s forhead. “You’re it. Turn around and count to ten!”

With Ji Yong’s appearance, the rest of the afternoon ran quite smoothly. After an hour of hide-and-seek, two rounds of tag, one more Fantastic Baby session, Haru finally crashed.

It was 2:30, and Haru had finally fallen asleep, lying across Ji Yong and Hayi’s legs as they themselves sat sprawled on the couch. In all their work sessions, they had never sat as close together as this, but Hayi was too exhausted to notice.

Haru’s head rested against her thighs, and she found herself stroking the kid’s hair while she snored delicately. She was so cute when she was asleep.

“Hey. Thanks for coming by.”

“I told you. The president sent me.”

“I know you, Oppa. You could have made an excuse and just as easily avoided this. Thanks.”

Ji Yong looked at her from the corner of her eyes, his lip curling at the side into a half-smile. “If you say so.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tablo had found the whole thing completely hilarious. As it turned out, he had made the same mistake a few months ago, and he was just relieved he had missed Hyper Haru. As long as Hye Jung didn’t find out, everything was just fine. He made sure to swear the two artists to secrecy before departing, chuckling at the utter depletion of energy they seemed to suffer.

As he walked away from the office, Haru cradled in his arms, he wondered a little at the pair in the room behind him.

Ji Yong’s strange relationship with the newbie singer was no secret in YG. But Tablo doubted they knew how deep their relationship was. He had noticed how Hayi’s focus was always on Ji Yong when he was in the room. How she quietly watched him and cared for him when he wasn’t looking. She refilled his coffee when he stepped away from his desk. She arranged his shoes by the door for him after he had left the entryway. She folded his jacket gently over a chair after he had dumped it on the couch for a recording session.

Tablo wasn’t the only one who noticed. He was sure Bobby noticed, and Soo Hyun, Hayi’s closest friend in YG probably saw it. But it remained a secret to everybody else.

Most of all to Ji Yong himself.

Tablo chuckled under his breath.

“Poor Hayi. She’s got a lot of work ahead of her.”


End file.
